1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a transflective liquid crystal device and an electronic apparatus having the same.
2. Related Art
One of known transflective liquid crystal devices is a liquid crystal device in which a liquid crystal layer is disposed between an upper substrate and a lower substrate opposed to each other, one dot area includes a transmissive display area and a reflective display area, and the retardation of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive display area is set to be a larger value than the retardation in the reflective display area at one of the time when a selected voltage is applied and the time when a non-selected voltage is applied (JP-A-2004-4494). Accordingly, the brightness of display in the transmitting mode is improved and hence visibility is improved.
There is also a known liquid crystal display device of a transflective IPS (In Plane Switching) system, in which a reflective display section and a transmissive display section are provided in one pixel, a phase plate is provided at a portion corresponding to the reflective display section, the retardation of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective display area is ¼ wavelength and the retardation of the phase plate is ½ (JP-A-2005-338256). Accordingly, a wide angle of view which is equal to the transmissive IPS system is achieved.
In the liquid crystal display device in the related art, when forming a retardation film (phase plate) in a cell configured by the pair of upper and lower substrates, the thickness (of the layer) is ideally uniform entirely over the formed area. Actually, however, when the layer is formed by patterning so as to correspond to the reflective display area (reflective display section), the end of the formed area is susceptible to variations in thickness. The value of the retardation as designed cannot be obtained at a portion where the thickness of the retardation film varies, and light which cannot be absorbed by a polarizing plate mounted to the surface of the cell is generated. In other words, there is a problem that light leakage occurs at portions in question and hence the contrast is lowered.